Cotton-press-door control



`lana. l', 1929.

B. C. WQDFORD -ooTToN PREs DooR coNTRoL Filed Jan. 24, 1928 gf) /N VENTO@ /oizsafz/ Mani/fara! B y www, wmwfwfwr,

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Application filed January 24, 192.3'.

My invention is a counterbalance device for cotton press doors, designed to be attached permanently to each press box, and in the case of a double press, in which the two bale boxes turn upon a central pivot, to travel with the box to which it is secured. Preferably each press box is provided with four of these devices, symmetrically dispos-cd about the box-two devices controllirg each ot the two side doors of the bale box.

ln the drawings:

Figure l is a side vier-fr of a press box, which my devices are attached;

Figure 2 is a partial front view of a box, showing my device att-ached at one ond of the door shaft;

Figure 8 is a view, in section, on. an enlarged scale, of the sprocket sector, showing, by comparison with the dotted arc, the volute forni of the sector.

lthas long been customary 'to provide counterbalance weights for press box doors, the weights being mounted in guide frames, with ropes running up above the press box, over sheaves or pulleys and provided with hooks upon their free ends, to engage the press door on both sides, which hooks were engaged before the door was released to open and let down and disengaged after the door had been closed again, before the box was rotated to set it in feeding position and bring the other press box into compressing position. rlhis unhooking and hooking had to be performed at each change of position of the box, the weights having to be lifted and lowered each time to accomplish this and the door manually controlled against the unvarying urge of the weights.

In my device the door control is permanently associated with the door which it controls, travelling with it, is substantially automatic and is designed so as to compensate for the varying leverage exerted by the door in its opening and closing action and to cause it to open and close steadily and evenly with almost no labor on the part of the operator.

In the drawings, A is the press box, B the press door, C the platform and D the pivot to which the press boxes are secured and about which the boxes and platform turn, all as is usual. rlhe door B is secured. upon a. shaft l, by brackets la, the shaft being mounted for turning in bearings 2, secured to the sides of the press box. rlhe :me Vm een ex 'Hei sa i la al i .Serial No. ,026.

shaft l projects beyond one or both of the bearings to receive hub, 3, of an arm 4l, which carries at its free end a sector 5 having preferably teeth 5a.

'lhe arm 5 lies in line, substantially, with the brackets l and the door B as shown at Vthe left of Figure l and when the door is lowered to the Vposition shown at the right of igure l, the arm is turned 90 degrees more or less. To one end of the sector 5 is pinned at 52 a flexible connector, preferably achain (i, the l'nks of which cooperate with the teeth 5l -1 the sector rilhe other end of the chain i3 is connected to one endof a ielical spring 7, shown in the drawings as a tension spring, and the spring 'i' is connected at the other end to a bracket 7l fast to the press box A, with provision, by means of a nut and threaded connector, 72, to adjust the tension and resistance of the spring 7. rlhe press doors are provided with customary means to hold them in closed position, in the drawings shown as links, o, one end oic which is anchored upon one door and the other end of which carries a'loop a which may be passedover a stud a2 upon the other door, as indicated in dotted lines in Figure l.

rlhe sector 5 is preferably not a segment of a circle struck from the centre of the hub but is volute in form, ther end to which the chain 6 is pinned being nearer to the hub centre than the opposite, or free end. rllhe effect of this is to set the links of chain 6 lirmly upon the teeth 5l of sector 5, as the sector turns, and shift the point of engagement and strain to the several sector teeth successively, as the sector turns, and relieve the pin engagement 52 of strain and at the same time to progressively increase the leverage in favor of the spring 7, increasing its effect. y

The operation is as follows: rlhe bale having been compressed, the links o, a, are disengaged, leaving the door or doors free to open. The spring 7 being connected to the inner ends of the sector1 5 (see Fig. l) tends, at this time, to hold the doors closed, the doors being vertical and having little tendency to fall outwardly, except for the slight motion due to some lateral expansion of the compressed bale released from the resistance of the doors. rlhe operator now pulls the door outwardly, the sector 5 turning and winding up the chain 6, thus putting the spring 7 under progressively increasing tension, the tension regularly increasing as the door swings down and regularly increases its leverage, to compensate for the increased leverage of the door and continuously balance the door. The spring being` lielically Wound increases its resistance in exact proportion. With its elongation, so that, at the point of greatest leverage of the door, when it is fully opened, the spring is giving its greatest resistance and so at all points between, the spring balances the urge of gravity acting on 'the door, a substantially perfect balance being maintained at all times, the spring either being designed or adjusted, by means of the nut and connector 72, to this end. Vhen the bale has been removed the door is swung up, the operation being reversed, the spring growing progressively less urgent as the door approaches its ver tical or closed position, but, due to the small leverage provided by the inwardly projecting end of the sector, to Which the chain 6 is pinioned, the spring will completely closethe door and hold it closed during the time that the links, cz, a', are being adjusted. The press is now ready to be revolved, bringing a filled bale box into position for compression, When the operation is repeated.

I have described and shown the sector as provided with teeth to cooperate with the links of a chain, and this is the preferred construction, but I do not limit myself to this construction as a smooth groove sector and a cable or any flexible connector, Would be effective, in place of the toothed sector and cooperating chain.

I claim:

1. In a baling press, a press box doorfast to a shaft extending across the box; that shaft, mounted in bearings at either end of a box and projecting beyond a bear ing; those bearings; a hub, carrying a grooved sector, secured upon the end of the shaft; 'a flexible connector pinned at one end to one end of the sector and at the other end engaging one end of a helical spring; that spring, its other nd secured to an abutment upon the bale box.

2. In a baling press, a press box door fast to a shaft extending across the box; that shaft, mounted in bearings at either end of the box and projecting beyond a bearing; those bearings; a hub, carrying a volute toothed sector, secured upon the end of the shaft; a chain pinned at one end to one end of the sector and at the other end engaging one end of a helical spring; that spring, its other end secured to an abutment upon the bale box. v

Signed at Dallas, Texas, this 17 th day of January, 1928.

BRONSON C. WOODFORD. 

